A man wearing only a sodden overcoat and one dress shoe
led a seasick stallion by a rope along the beach
slowly, so slowly
like their ship that descended the ghostly green.
He said to me, "No kiss of yours can replace deck and cabin,
keel and hold. No woman is as precious as the next breath."
Sadly, so sadly
he wandered away, wearing only one earring and a felt hat.
I was, then, a Multilingual Sister of the Silent Bell
and led the abandoned animal through our courtyard
carefully, so carefully
so as not to disturb the stillness with the thunder of his heart.
Wearing only a sundress and carrying one rope sandal,
I know now that summer pavers are warmer than a drowning man.
Slowly, sadly, carefully,
I flowed that day like water from the stone of Samarkand.
______________
for Word Garden Word List--Keith Reid.
Music: Chantel Chamberland Temptation
Goddamn. I don't even know what to say. Beautiful, enigmatic but still landing its shots. "seasick stallion," "No woman is as precious as the next breath." - that's award winning. Maybe the opening line of a novel. 'not to disturb the stillness with the thunder of its heart" because OUR hearts are thundering. "summer pavers are warmer than a drowning man." - another award winning. Another opening line of a novel. And then it all swirling between the mosques and and the history of the silk road, nowhere farther, but opening to our imagination than Samarkand...
ReplyDeleteReading this again. Just perfect. The time jump from some sort of ancient order to a sundress and sandal, somehow through the poem and shipwreck and what being in the present, a tourist's summer, tells us.
ReplyDeleteThanks so very much for these two wonderful comments, qbit. Some poems feel special when you finish them, and this is one of those for me.
Delete"Some poems feel special when you finish them, and this is one of those for me."
ReplyDeletewell i can see why. i don't know what i can say that qbit hasn't already. that last stanza is perfectly parallel to the rest of the poem, and yet "slowly, sadly carefully" evolves it into sometime new, all loose threads tied off. excellent.
Oh my goodness, I have just read the first stanza and had to stop to say OMG! HOW you come up with your amazing images and stories, I have no idea. Every single poem. The seasick stallion! The "Multilingual Sister of the Silent Bell" must have made you happy as you wrote it. Outrageously good. I LOVE "So as not to disturb the stillness with the thunder of its heart." Sigh. Fantastic.
ReplyDeleteLovely, Shay, with a dreamy mystical feel that is intimate and yet as oddly remote as something observed in an out of body experience. The last line makes the reader catch his breath in sheer wonder.
ReplyDeleteThis is hedgewitch, btw. Phone and blog do not play well together. (Computer is still not working.)
DeleteA mesmerizing dreamscape, almost Lynchian without the creep-factor just time slowing down, and symbols flowing one into another to create a weird hagiography of the narrator's evolution. Brilliant as always.
ReplyDeleteAs always Shay, your words are stunning. I don't know what else to say that hasn't already been said.
ReplyDeleteWonderful! It's all been said but the images and the story are so delicately wrought and so profoundly moving. Just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWonderful! That's me that just wrote above.
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful tale, Shay! I basically agree with everything everyone has already said! But the bit about the time jump in qbit's comment really chimed with me here. Love that image of you leading the abandoned animal wearing only a sundress and holding a rope sandal <3
ReplyDeleteSorry I haven't added to the word list this time, it's been a hectic time! Lovely to read all the offerings though and I must say, the music you've added really adds the perfect soundtrack to the image of you and the horse walking along at the end, very Tarantino-esque!
And by the way, your labels are a mini-poem in themselves! :-D
ReplyDeleteThis leaves me wanting more! i adore the thundering heart and sundress and well, all of it. And I too always enjoy your labels ;).
ReplyDeleteI don't know what I could say after how so many have commented so beautifully about this wonderful poem.
ReplyDelete"Wearing only a sundress and carrying one rope sandal,
I know now that summer pavers are warmer than a drowning man." Just one line pulled from a gorgeous poem I love. You always inspire me.